Coverings for shells and the like



United States Patent O 3207,274 COVERINGS FOR SHELLS AND THE LIKE WalterP. Baermann, Waynesville, N.C., assignor to Hawley Products Company, St.Charles, 111., a corporatin of Delaware Filed Nov. 13, 1962, Ser. No.237,224 4 Claims. (Cl. 190-53) This nvention relates to the covering ofhollow shells and the like with a flexible sheetng and, moreparticularly, pertains to improvements in the covering of hollow shellshaving rounded corners.

Hollow shell-s :are used as component parts of artcles of luggage,phonograph cases, courier cases, portable typewriter cases, etc. Theseshells are usually covered with a sheet of flexible materi-ai, such asleather, imitation leather, thermoplastic sheeting, weven Fiberglas,cloth or the like to improve the appearance of 'the item. One of theproblerns enoountered in coverng a shell with a single sheet of flexblesheeting is that the sheeting must have sufli-cient stretch so that itcan 'be stretched at the corners of the shell without tearing. Themajority of coverng materials, however, do not have the requisite amountof stretch to permit their use in coverings of the aforesaid cha-racter.

This nvention pertains to coverings wheren the cover sheeting may be outat the portion of the covering across the corners of the shells to whichthe coverin-g is a-pplied. An area of sheeting is cut Out at each cornerso that the sheeting will not fold or overlap at the corner when it isadhered to the shell. The side edges of the out out portion are abutted-or are approximately abutted when the sheeting is applied to the shell.A strip of thermoplastic resin or polymer i then heat-sealed on thecovered corner of the shell to hide the cut and also to provide awear-resistant member.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the nvention to provideimprovements in covering structures and members having rounded corners.Another object of the invention is to provide improvements in the sheetcoverings of hollow shells having rounded corners. Still another objectof the nvention is to provide wear-reinforcecrnents for outer corners ofhollow shells. A still further object is to provide wear-renforcementsheat-sealed to the outer corners of sheetcovered hollow shells.

The foregoing and numerous ether important objects, advantages, andinherent functions of the nvention will become apparent as the same ismore fully understood from the following description, which, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferredernhodment of the nvention.

In the drawin-gs:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet-covered hollow shell nsed in themanufacture of articles of lug-gage, por-table cases and the like;

FIG. 2 is a perspective fragmentary view of a corner of the shell ofFIG. 1 prior to the application of a thermoplastic, wear-reinforcedstrip thereon;

FIG. 3 is a perspective, fragmentary view of said corner with awear-reinforcement strip applie-d thereon;

FIG. 4 is a section in fragment taken on section 4--4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a wearaeinforcement strip.

Referring to the dr-awings, there is shown in the illustrated embodimenta hollow shell 1 comprising a side wall 2 and end wall pars 3, 3 and 4,4. These walls form a hollow shell adapted to he used as a part of anarticle of lu-ggage, a portable oase, and the like. Two such shells canbe hinged together in opposing relationship to form an article ofluggage or other hollow con tainer 01- case.

The hollow shells 1 may he made of any material of suitable rigidity forthe use desired. They may be made, for exam-ple, from met-al, moldedfiber, molded Fiberglas, molded wood chips, or the like wherein thefibers or chips are honded =together by a thermoplastic or thermosettingresin. They also may be made from molded thermoplastic or thermosettingresins.

The corners formed at the junctures of the end walls 3, 4 are, forpurp-oses of the nvention, preferably rounded corners 5 having domecorners 6. The side wall 2 and the end walls 3,3 and 4, 4 may be joinedhy rounded corners "7.

The hollow shell 1 is covered hy a flexible sheeting 8 adhered t-ghtlyto the walls 2, 3, 4. The corners of the diexible sheeting -8 are cut,prior to its being appled and adhered on the shell 1, to remove asection of the sheeting at each corner so that the cut edges 9 are inahutment or at least approximate abutment when the flexble sheeting isapplie-d to and adhered on the shell. The depth to which the flexiblesheeting is cut prefera'bly is suflicient so that the cut extendsslightly inw-ardly of the dome section 6 of the shell, as can be seen inFIG. 2.

The "butted joint or the space between the cut edges 9 is covered -by areinforcement strip 10 which is a thermoplastic =resn or polymer whichis heat-sealahle with or adhesively secured to the covering sheet 8. Thestrip 10 is adhesively secured to or heat-sealed on each corner of thecovered shell. The strip- 10 are of a length and wi-dth suflicient tocover any spacing between the edges 9 of the covering and preferablyhave dimensions large enough so that the strips 10 act aswear-reinforcernent strips which protect the corners o the covered shellagainst tearing or gouging. If desired, the strips 10 may have taperedends 11 or emhossed designs, e.g. the transverse corrugations 12. Thelatter may be embossed into the thermoplastic strips by a heated shoewhen the strips are heat-sealed on the corners of the covered shell.

The cover sheeting -8 may be a thermoplastc sheeting, such as vinylsheeting, cloth with a thermoplastic resin or polymer coating on oneside thereof and the like. The thermoplastic resin 01' polymer strips 10may 'be pressed against the corners 5, 6 with a transverse andlongitudinal curvature corresponding -to the ourvature of the corners 5,6 and heat-sealed to -the thermoplastic resin o-r polymer of the coversheeting 8. Dielectric heatsealing may "be employed for this purpose.The strips 10 may also be sealed on the corners with pressuresensitiveadhesive or with quick-drying, wet adhesive. Similarly, the coversheeting 8 may be secured in oert-ain instance by heat-seaiing to theouter side of the shell 1 or it may be secured thereon by the use ofadhesive.

'Ihe method of applying the cover sheeting comprises laying therectangular piece of flexible, cover sheeting 8 on the outer sides ofthe shell 1 and houding the cover sheeting to the enter sides of wall-s2, 3, 4. The corners of the sheeting preferably are trimmed or cut priorto houding the cover sheeting on the shell along converging lines toprovide a configuration =giving the substanti-ally abutted ed-ges 9, 9.The strips 10 are honded by adhesive or heat-sealing to the ontersurface of sheeting 8 over the cut or trimmed edges 9, 9 at each cornerto provide finished corners reinforced -against wear. The nvention isespecially useful where the sheeting 8 is composed of polyvinyl chlorideand the strips or corner pieces 10 are also composed of =polyvinylchloride.

It is thought that the nvention and its numerous attendant advantageswill be fully understood from the foregoing desoription, and it isobvious that numer-ous changes may be made in the form, construction andarrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit 01scope of the nvention, or saorificing any of its attendant adventgaes,the forms herein di-sclosed heng prefer-red embodrnents for the purposeof illustratin-g the invention.

I claim;

1. A molded structure fior use as a hollow shell of an article ofluggage and the like comprising a hard, untary molding of fibrousmaterial defining a substantially rectangular dome wall and four endwalls extending ahout the periphery of said dorne wall at substantiallyright angles thereto and joined with the respective edges of said domewall by rounded corners, the respective, conti-guous ende 01: said endWalls heng joine-d by additional rounded corners, said walls and cornersthereby defining a generally rectilinear, hard, hollow, unitary shellwith the walls thereof joined 'by rounded corners as a unitarily moldedbody, a rectangular piece of flexible cover sheeting of poor stretch quality with a thermo -palstic resin outer side secured to' and coveringthe outer side of said walls of said shell, said cover .sheeting lyingsmoothly against said walls and said firstrnentioned rounded corners,said rectangular piece of cover sheeting havng a segment cut 'out ofeach of the four eor ners thereof, the edges of said cut segments heingsubstantially a-butted at said additional corners, and a flexible,wear-reinforcement strip of thermoplastic resin extending along each ofsaid additional rounded corners over said substantally abutted edges,said strips being bonded to said cover sheeting at said additionalcorners by a heat seal of said thermoplastic resn strips to saidthermoplastc resin outer side of said oovering.

2. A molded shell structure with cover sheeting there over oomprsing amolded hollow shell with a molded rectangular side wall having alongeach of the four edges thereof an end wall, each end wall hengsubstantially normal to said side wall, an elongated rounded cornerextending longtudinally along each of said four edges an-d joinng arespective one of said edges and its respective end wall, addition-alrounded corners at the four corner of said side wall joinng thecontguous ends of the respectve end walls said additio n al roundedcorners extending at right angles to said first-mentioned roundedcorner-s and intersecting respective pairs of said firstmentionedrounded corners at the four corner of said side wall, the respectivejunctures of said elongated rounded corners and said ad-ditonal cornersbeing dorne corners, said side wall, said four end walls, saidelongated, round corners, said additional roun-ded corners and said domecorners being integrally-formed as a mold ing of fibrous material, aflexible cover sheet adhered over the and ly=ing smoo=thly aganst outersides of said side wall, said end walls and said ro-unded corners, saidcover sheet having cut out segments at the four corners thereof, therespective cut edges of said cut out segments beng substantially abuttedand ex-tending side-by-side along a respective one of said fouradditional rounded corners and also across a respective one of said domecorners, said cover sheet having a thermoplasti-c polymer outer surface,and a wear-reinforcement strip of a thermoplastc polymer lying over eachpair of the respective, substantally abutted ed-ges and being b0nded tosaid thermoplast-c polyrner outer surface a-djacent said abutting edges.

3. A shell structure as clarned in claim 2 wheren said flexible coversheet is a thermoplastic polymer sheet having poor, inherent stretchquality.

4. A shell structure as claimed in claim 3 wherein saidwear-neinforcement strips are honded by heat sealing to said outersurface.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,116,571 5/38G-urwick 93-35 2,33 8,035 12/43 Gerold 2219-25 2,444722 7/48 Bogoslowsky2295.5 2,808,192 10/57 Raisin 22931 2,994,466 8/61 Thompson 22930FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner.

EARLE DRUMMOND, GEORGE 0. RALSTON,

E Jtamners.

1. A MOLDED STRUCTURE FOR USE AS A HOLLOW SHELL OF AN ARTICLE OF LUGGAGEAND THE LIKE COMPRISING A HARD, UNITARY MOLDING OF FIBROUS MATERIALDEFINING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR DOME WALL AND FOUR END WALLSEXTENDING ABOUT THE PERIPHERY OF SAID DOME WALL AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHTANGLES THERETO AND JOINED WITH THE RESPECTIVE EDES OF SAID DOME WALL BYROUNDED CORNERS, THE RESPECTIVE, CONTIGUOUS ENDS OF SAID END WALLS BEINGJOINED BY ADDITIONAL ROUNDED CORNERS, SAID WALLS AND CORNERS THEREBYDEFINING A GENERALLY RECTILINEAR, HARD, HOLLOW, UNITARY SHELL WITH THEWALLS THEREOF JOINED BY ROUNDED CORNERS AS A UNITARILY MOLDED BODY, ARECTANGULAR PIECE OF FLEXIBLE COVER SHEETING OF POOR STRETCH QUALITYWITH A THERMOPLASTIC RESIN OUTER SIDE SECURED TO AND COVERING THE OUTERSIDE OF SAID WALLS OF SAID SHELL, SAID COVER SHEETING LYING SMOOTHLYAGAINST SAID WALLS AND SAID FIRST-MENTIONED ROUNDED CORNERS, SAIDRECTANGULAR PIECE OF COVER SHEETING HAVING A SEGMENT CUT OUT OF EACH OFTHE FOUR CORNERS THEREOF, THE EDGES OF SAID CUT SEGMENTS BEINGSUBSTANTIALLY ABUTTED AT SAID ADDITIONAL CORNERS, AND A FLEXIBLE,WEAR-REINFORCEMENT STRIP OF THERMOPLASTIC RESIN EXTENDING ALONG EACH OFSAID ADDITIONAL ROUNDED CORNERS OVER SAID SUBSTANTIALLY ABUTTED EDGES,SAID STRIPS BEING BONDED TO SAID COVER SHEETING AT SAID ADDITIONALCORNERS BY A HEAT SEAL OF SAID THERMOPLASTIC RESIN STRIPS TO SAIDTHERMOPLASTIC RESIN OUTER SIDE OF SAID COVERING.